


Look In Thy Glass

by TMar



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Transporter Malfunction, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 10:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16366187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMar/pseuds/TMar
Summary: The Will Riker and Tom Riker double act. Or, how the Two Rikers foiled a plan to steal the Enterprise.





	Look In Thy Glass

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the personal, private amusement of the  
> author, mostly. I loved the episode "Second Chances" and thought   
> Jonathan Frakes was doubly sexy thanks to the special effects people,  
> who made us believe it.
> 
> I wrote this in 1993 (25 years ago - shut up) before DS9 aired the episode "Defiant", which showed us a different version of Tom Riker. I prefer mine.

"Captain, we are receiving a distress signal," said Lieutenant Worf, looking  
concerned... or as concerned as a Klingon could look. At any rate, frowning  
conveyed the emotion.

Picard didn't look back at the tactical station, he merely asked,  
"Identification, Lieutenant?"

"It's the Gandhi, Sir. A Federation ship." At Worf's words Riker looked  
up. That was his... his? ship.

"Do they signal what kind of distress they're in?"

"Negative. There's a repeating voice message."

"Let's hear it."

The message was not long. "From U.S.S. Gandhi to any Federation ship in  
the sector, we are in distress. Repeat, we are in distress and need help." A  
set of coordinates followed. "That's the system where they were to start  
terraforming," Riker said.

Picard pulled his jacket straight, something which no longer conveyed  
that he felt uncomfortable with the damn thing riding up, but rather that he'd  
set his mind on a course and was going to follow it through. Which he was. He  
turned to his ops officer. "Mister Data, set a course."

"Aye, Sir."

The Enterprise flashed into warp and was gone.

***

The Gandhi was orbiting an uninhabited planet in the Coku Tau system... alongside  
a ship with an unknown configuration. However, it was not the planet the  
Gandhi had been sent to terraform. This planet was enveloped in red and pink  
gases. Riker stood when the planet came into view. "Look at that!" 

The ships were in parallel orbit, but both were orbiting slightly into  
the atmosphere. The Gandhi's shields were still up. 

Riker had not sat down again, and now Picard got up too. "Number One?"

"They tried to evade that ship by going into the atmosphere," Riker  
observed. "The gas may have clouded the other ship's visuals."

"Could it be they just drifted in?" asked Picard.

"I don't think so," said Riker.

Deanna now stood as well. "How do you know?"

"Because that there - " Riker pointed at the screen, where the Gandhi  
orbited, shields glowing in the atmosphere, " - is the evasive maneuver I'd  
try."

Picard and Deanna looked at one another knowingly, and then Picard turned  
back to Worf. "Mister Worf, try hailing them. Secure channel."

"Channel open, Sir."

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard. We're just coming into the system now.  
Can you give us any information?"

The screen cleared to show the bridge of the Gandhi and its Andorian  
captain. "Thank goodness!" he said. "I'm Captain Sheilh. We were attacked by  
an unknown ship. We went into the atmosphere to try and escape, but they have  
some sort of... jamming weapon which has frozen all our consoles.  
We're only maintaining orbit by momentum, and it'll start decaying soon."

"Has the alien ship contacted you?"

"Negative. They just opened fire and then jammed everything. But they  
must have done it through our shields, because they were still up when  
everything jammed."

"We'll be there in three minutes. Enterprise out." Picard turned to  
Riker. "Opinion, Number One?"

Riker shrugged. "Well, it could be that this system is part of some alien  
alliance we didn't know about, or else there's something on this planet, or  
one of the other planets in this system, that the aliens want."

Picard nodded. They'd soon find out what it was.

***

As soon as the Enterprise approached the planet, the alien ship opened fire.  
"Mister Data, make sure you monitor EVERY transmission or power emanation  
coming from that ship. We don't want whatever happened to the Gandhi to happen  
to us," said Picard as the ship rocked slightly and Data moved towards the  
back of the bridge. "Mister Worf, damage report."

"No damage. Minor hit on forward shields. The aliens appear to be  
equipped with disruptor-type weapons, equivalent to Klingon disruptor  
technology of approximately twenty years ago."

"Captain!" broke in Data from the science station. "Peculiar energy  
transmission coming from the alien ship. I am adjusting shield harmonics to  
block it."

"Make sure you do, Mister Data. We can't afford to have everything on  
this ship jammed as well," said Picard as the lights dimmed for about half a  
second, and then came back up. 

"Adjustment successful, Sir," said Data. "The transmission was blocked by our shields."

"Mister Worf?" Picard indicated the screen.

"Channel open, Sir."

"Captain Sheilh, do you have any control over your shields?"

"They're up, that's about all. Everything's just... frozen."

"Understood." Picard turned to Worf again. "Mister Worf, lock phasers on  
that ship and fire. Try to disable her."

"Aye, Sir. Phasers locked."

"Fire."

The yellow beams hit the alien ship, and then all three ships rocked with  
a power surge as the energy was directed back at them. The lights on the  
Enterprise went off, though through luck the screen did not. As the screen  
went to a forward view they could see the Gandhi's shields drop.

"Captain Sheilh?" Picard asked when their channel had been restored.

A new... or, rather, old face appeared on the screen. "The Captain's been  
knocked out, Enterprise. But you did it, the consoles are functioning again."

"Bring your ship out of the atmosphere," said Picard.

"Understood."

"Captain," said Worf, "our shields have also dropped."

"Get them back up, Mister Worf."

"Aye, Sir. Attempting to raise shields."

The Gandhi moved out of the atmosphere to flank the Enterprise. The alien  
ship moved too, into position facing them. But it did not open fire, nor did  
any transmissions occur.

"What are they waiting for?" asked Riker.

"Good question," said his counterpart on the Gandhi.

And then it became clear as four transporter beams coalesced into  
humanoid forms. As they did, Riker leaped over the console and cut off the  
transmission to the Gandhi, while Worf had his phaser out. He was overmatched,  
however, and did not get off a shot. Picard yelled, "Computer, disable command  
functions! Authorization Picard Alpha two zero."

The aliens - who looked totally human except for pale green skin - didn't  
bat an eye at Picard's words, and looked around the bridge rather casually  
instead.

"Well, well," said one. "We hoped to capture one Federation ship... a  
small one, maybe. But not the flagship of the Federation. Nice of you to rush  
to the rescue."

"Who are you?" Picard asked, stepping forward.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Our allies, the Suttorans, have a bone or  
two, I believe the expression is, to pick with the Federation. Ours is not to  
question why. Now we'll take them a much better prize than the ship you see  
out there." He indicated the screen, which had gone back to a view of the  
alien ship, the Gandhi, and the planet. "Captain, you will evacuate this  
ship."

"And do what?"

"Go over to that one."

Riker stepped forward. "The Gandhi's smaller than the Enterprise. It's  
not equipped to carry a thousand passengers."

"Stuff them in the cargo bays for all I care."

"We - " began Picard, but the alien cut him off. "Captain, we have people  
all over this ship by now. You WILL do as we say or we start using your  
passengers and crew as target practice. Am I understood?"

Picard sighed visibly. "Yes."

"Good. Oh, and Captain... don't think that your having disabled command  
functions will stop us. We'll tow the Enterprise if necessary."

The Enterprise officers, crew and passengers were herded into  
transporters and beamed to the Gandhi.

***

However, the Enterprise was not immediately fixed with a tractor beam. Picard,  
Sheilh, the Gandhi's first officer and Riker stood together on the bridge,  
under the watchful eye of one of the aliens. "What can we do?" whispered  
Picard. "Why haven't they taken the Enterprise and gone?"

"They may be attempting to restore command functions," said Commander  
Fujita, the first officer.

Riker nodded. "It would be easier to fly the ship than tow it."

Fujita continued to stare at Riker after he had finished speaking... but  
of course he knew why. "If we can overpower this one, we might be able to get  
to the transporter room and beam back to the Enterprise," he said.

"And if you get captured?" asked Sheilh. Riker smiled evilly. Sheilh knew  
that smile. He hated it when Riker smiled like that. "Commander, I know that  
look. Whatever you're going to do, we're not going to like it, are we?" 

Picard stifled a laugh, but Riker only said, "I think you are going to  
like it, actually, Captain. Send me and..."

Picard interrupted. "And you."

"Yeah. Me. Him. Whatever. The point is, if we're both on the Enterprise  
either one of us can do the job, and if one of us gets captured they won't be  
looking for the other one."

Picard and Sheilh looked at each other. "You're right," said Sheilh. "I  
do like it."

"Okay. I assume he's in his quarters?"

"Yes. He made it a priority to go there so that the aliens wouldn't see  
him. I think he must have surmised your plan."

"I'm not surprised. Okay, I'll head there, change uniforms, and then  
we'll try to make it onto the Enterprise."

Picard nodded. "Make it so."

***

Riker found his quarters easily enough, having had to invent a plausible  
excuse to get off the bridge. He didn't buzz but went straight in. "Thomas?"

"I've been expecting you. What took you so long?"

"So you did think of going back to the Enterprise."

"I knew you were planning something like this when you cut the  
transmission to stop the aliens from seeing me."

"Well, we haven't got all day. Gimme a uniform." Riker hardly had the  
words out when one landed on his head, along with the words, "Hurry up. And  
don't call me Thomas."

"What should I call you?"

"Tom, of course."

"Of course. Sorry."

***

There was an alien in the Gandhi's main transporter room, disruptor trained  
on the transporter chief. Riker strolled straight in. "Excuse me..." The alien  
turned.

Then Riker strolled in. "Excuse me..." The alien turned the other way,  
seeing double, and then Will hit him. He crumpled. Will looked at Tom. "This  
could get to be fun."

"Don't push it," said Tom, smiling.

The transporter chief stared at the pair, rubbing his eyes. "No, you are  
NOT seeing double, Chief," said Tom.

"Just checking, Sir."

"Set coordinates for the Enterprise. Let's see... your quarters?"

Will nodded. "I'll go first, and head for the bridge. You beam into  
Holodeck Three; it's right near Engineering. Then get there. One of us has to  
get the ship back."

***

Tom stepped out of Holodeck Three. The corridors were empty. Engineering,  
however, wasn't. There was an alien attempting to get a response from the main  
console, obviously trying to restore power. Tom hit him once on the neck, and  
he crumpled. Tom dragged him out of sight, then went for the weapons locker.  
Ordinarily he wouldn't have been able to get in, but his voice authorization  
worked. He grabbed two phasers, one for himself and one for Will. He left the  
disruptor inside, locked the door from outside, and headed for the bridge.

Will had disabled two aliens on his way to the bridge. Now he had a disruptor  
to his advantage, but there was no telling how many aliens would be up there.  
He stepped out of the aft turbolift. There were only two in sight. "Hold it  
right there, gentlemen."

The alien who had threatened to use the crew for target practice was one  
of them. "Ah, the illustrious Commander Riker I assume. First officer of this  
great ship."

"That's far enough."

"I don't think so, Commander. You see, you forgot..." He indicated in the  
direction of the captain's Ready Room, and Will turned to see another green  
alien with a disruptor trained on him. "Game, set and match," said the alien.

"Don't you mean check-mate?" asked Will, lowering the disruptor.

"No, I think he means it's your turn to fold," came a voice from the port  
turbolift.

The aliens turned in the direction of the voice, too late to prevent Tom  
from stunning the one at the Ready Room door. He then faced the pair at the  
tactical station. They were staring from one Riker to the other in total  
disbelief. "I think the expression is, 'Go ahead. Make my day'," said Tom.

"Or mine," added Will.

"Heck, make our day," said Tom, grinning widely. The evil grin again.

"It's a trick!" said the alien in charge. "He's using holograms."

"But... which is the hologram?" asked the other alien.

As they spoke Tom threw Will a phaser. Beams lanced out of both phasers  
at once, and the aliens fell to the deck unconscious. The Rikers looked at  
each other. "Not bad," they said in unison. They locked the three unconscious  
aliens in the Ready Room, and then Will turned to his counterpart. "There must  
still be some aliens aboard."

"I agree, but do you think they'll have had time to mask their signals from our scans?"

"Let's find out." Will addressed the computer. "Computer, how  
many life-forms on board the Enterprise at this moment?"

"Ten. Six are unconscious."

"Okay," said Will. "They didn't have time. Two aliens left." He strode to the aft science  
station and scanned the ship. Tom stood next to him. "Why would there be an  
alien in that particular Jeffries tube?" He indicated.

"Dunno," replied Will. "Trying to restore power maybe. I'll take him. You  
go to Ten Forward and take care of the other one, then head for the  
transporter room."

"Check. How are we going to get our people back?"

"We'll jump off that bridge when we come to it."

***

Will dispatched the alien in the Jeffries tube with no fuss at all. Tom,  
however, was not so lucky. As he walked in the alien was waiting, and the  
disruptor was smashed from his hand. He managed to wrest the alien's disruptor  
away, too, but the alien ducked behind the bar and picked up a large knife.  
"Not so fast, Commander Riker," he said.

"I'm not Commander Riker," said Tom. The pair circled each other.

"You think we didn't check your personnel files?"

"I thought you were after the Gandhi."

The alien lunged, Riker blocked him. "We didn't need the Gandhi, except  
for bait."

"Clever."

"Thank you." The alien started the lunge again, but this time a voice  
from the door said, "That will be quite enough."

The alien turned. However, this one was not quite so quick to decide that  
one of the pair was a hologram. "I suppose you're not Commander Riker either,"  
he said to Will.

Will looked at Tom. "Of course I am."

"Who did you think he was?" asked Tom.

Will levelled the phaser at the alien, who dived out of the way, still  
holding the knife, managing to slice Tom in the process. Having no choice,  
Will stunned both of them.

***

When he awoke, W. Thomas Riker found Doctor Beverly Crusher and Counselor  
Deanna Troi standing over him, looking very worried. "How are you feeling?"  
Crusher asked.

"Okay, I guess..." Tom rubbed his chin. "I... what did you do to my  
face?"

"The alien nearly slit your throat, Lieutenant. As it was he sliced your  
jaw open cleanly. We had to remove your beard so I could heal the wound."

"Damn." He sat up. "I liked that beard."

"So did I," said Troi, and Tom smiled.

"I grew it about six years back when I realised that shaving my entire  
face all the time was becoming a nuisance." Tom sat up. "What happened after  
Will stunned us?"

"Instead of beaming the crew back, he beamed all the aliens, including  
the four still on the alien ship, into a secure transporter room. There were  
only thirty of them, and they'd spread themselves out to cover the entire  
complement of prisoners, so it wasn't difficult."

"Who were they?"

"Apparently," said Troi, running her hand down his jaw, "they were allies  
of the Suttorans. We ran into them a while back. They had advanced technology  
in some areas, but their weapons were very primitive by today's standards."

"So they thought they'd get a starship?" asked Tom, holding her hand.

"They tried it once before and it didn't work. I guess they thought this  
time they'd go for the direct approach. By the way... have you met Ensign Ro?"

"No. Why?"

"Hmmm... just asking."

Tom turned to Crusher. "Can I get out of here?"

Beverly nodded. "Yeah. You can grow the beard back anytime, I healed the  
wound cleanly."

"Thanks."

***

Will, Tom and Deanna sat in Ten Forward having dinner. "So..." began Will,  
"... you met Lieutenant Commander Shelby."

"Yeah, at Starbase 103. She came up to me and asked if I wanted to play  
poker, and promised not to do whatever it was she did the last time." He  
frowned. "What did she do?"

Will laughed. "She won."

"Oh."

"So what happened?" Troi asked.

"So I said, 'Who are you?' And she got angry and said I didn't have to  
carry my personal feelings that far. And then I started to explain what  
happened... but ended up saying we were brothers. Twins. She actually believed  
me."

"And?" asked Will.

"I took her to dinner..." 

Tom trailed off, looking at Deanna, who smiled and said only, "So?" 

"So I found out that blonde Lieutenant Commanders have lots and lots of  
energy."

Deanna tried not to laugh, but didn't make it. Will grinned openly, then  
frowned, thinking of his father. "Did you ever contact Dad?"

"Yeah. Starfleet had informed him about what happened. He was... glad...  
to see me. Said we should get together when I was in the sector."

"Do you think you will?" Troi asked in her Ship's Counselor's voice.

"I guess. I still feel angry at him sometimes."

"Me too. Oh, and here's a tip: remember when I... we?... used to play  
ambo jitsu with him?"

"Yeah?"

"He always won because he uses an illegal move."

"No kidding." The pair laughed, and Deanna turned to Tom. "Are you going  
to grow your beard back?"

"Yeah. I feel kinda... naked without it."

Will really laughed this time. "Thanks for telling me. But please...  
don't tell Beverly Crusher, okay?"

"Why not?"

"We had a poker bet, and if I'd lost..." He trailed off, rubbing his  
beard. "Let's just say if she knew she'd want to bet on it again."

"You know..." mused Tom, "... we do look better with it."

"Handsome," put in Troi. "Not that you're not handsome both ways."

"I look seasoned, huh?" said Will.

"Yeah. It suits you."

"I wonder if I want to look that seasoned?" asked Tom, and all three  
laughed.

***

Picard and Sheilh were saying goodbye in the Gandhi's transporter room. "He's  
an excellent officer," Sheilh was saying. "He'll make captain in a few years."

"Of that I have no doubt," said Picard. "If anybody can do it he can.  
Will's been captain. He was captain when I was kidnapped by the Borg. He's  
damn good. In fact, he's my best officer."

"Why is he still on the Enterprise?"

"He told me he's happy on the Enterprise. And, strange as it may sound,  
he knows that when he's captain he'll miss out on a lot of the action. I think  
he likes being in the thick of things."

"I can understand."

Just then the transporter chief activated the unit and Riker appeared.  
"Captain Sheilh. Just thought I'd say goodbye."

"Goodbye, Commander." He looked quizzically at Riker. "Where's your...  
where's..."

"My brother?" W. Thomas Riker was NOT William T. Riker's brother. But he  
was... family. It felt good to Will, finally, to have some.

"Yeah. Where's Lieutenant Riker?"

"Saying goodbye to Deanna."

"Oh."

Picard stepped onto the transporter platform and Riker stood next to him.  
"Goodbye, Captain Sheilh," said Picard.

"Goodbye."

Picard and Riker dematerialised.

***

Deanna was hugging Tom. "Take care of yourself," she said.

"I will. Make my... brother... take care of you."

"He... you... always have."

"I love you, imzadi."

"I love you, too."

They kissed, then Tom drew away. "If you wanted to change your mind about  
marrying me..."

Deanna smiled, a bit sadly. "I don't think so. You'll be happier getting  
your career on track. You might still make captain before you're forty."

"I'm happy just being in Starfleet again. I wish I could stay here with  
you."

"It would get too confusing."

"I know."

Riker paused at the open door. "I'll practice a new poker face for when  
Will and I meet again." He grinned the evil grin at her.

Deanna grinned back. "Bluff the pants off him."

***

The two Rikers met in the transporter room, and Will remained after Picard  
exited. "We made a good team," said Will.

"A damn good team," agreed Tom.

"I told Captain Sheilh that you were my..."

"Brother?"

"Yeah."

"That's what I said to Deanna."

"I never had any family before... Dad and I didn't get along, so it was  
like me against the universe. It feels good to have... family." Will looked  
into Tom's eyes.

"I felt the same... I think that was when I was you, or you were me,  
or..."

"When we were one person."

"Yeah. But you're right - it's good to have someone out there."

"Someone to see at Christmas, or Federation Day, or..."

"Thanksgiving." Riker had always loved Thanksgiving, though he had not  
celebrated it much since entering Starfleet.

"Yeah," said Will. "As a matter of fact, let's make that a definite plan.  
To meet for Thanksgiving. Deanna can come," he added.

"Wouldn't come if she wasn't," joked Tom.

Will approached his... brother. "You be good to yourself."

"You too." They hugged, the two Rikers, feeling at last like family.

***

Will found Deanna eating what he'd heard her refer to as a "Mississippi Mud Pie" in Ten Forward. "Hi."

"Hi, Will."

"So... you decided not to go with him again."

"My life is here, you know that."

"Yeah." Will stared out the viewport, just in time to see the warp effect  
engage and the Gandhi disappear as the Enterprise went into warp. Deanna and  
Riker felt a presence, and then Guinan stood there.

"You know..." she mused, "... I didn't get to meet Tom. But I understand  
he's a lot like you." It lightened the atmosphere, and Deanna and Will smiled.

"Yeah," said Will, "he is."

Guinan smiled suddenly. "I certainly would have liked to see the aliens'  
faces when they saw two of you together."

"Thought they were seeing ghosts, I bet," smiled Deanna

"Or holograms," said Riker.

Then the comm panel beeped. "Picard to Riker."

"Go ahead, Sir."

"We just received a message from the Gandhi. Your brother - " Picard  
didn't even pause - "...says he'd like his uniform back next time you see each  
other."

Riker looked down. He was still wearing W. Thomas Riker's uniform.  
Deanna was laughing, and he joined in. "Aye, Sir."

The Enterprise went on its way.

Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest,  
Now is the time that face should form another;  
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,  
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.  
For where is she so fair, whose unear'd womb  
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?  
Or who is he so fond, will be the tomb  
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?  
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee  
Calls back the lovely April of her prime:  
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,  
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.  
But if thou live, remember'd not to be,  
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.  
(Shakespeare; Sonnet III)

THE END


End file.
